Mallory en España: Paris, France with the Miller Family!

It’s been pretty hectic lately, so now is the first time that I have been able to sit down and write in my blog. Sorry for the delay everyone!

Last week, I spent time in Paris with the Miller family. For those of you who don’t know who they are, they’re a family with three kids—Molly, Garrett and Maeve—and their beach house is right down the street from ours. My family has known them for years. I’ll have to start out by saying that although I knew already that Paris is a beautiful city beforehand, it actually was very low on my list of places I wanted to see in Europe. I was in the state of mind that if I didn’t make it to Paris, I didn’t make it; however, I am SO glad the Millers gave me the opportunity to visit such an amazing city full of so much art and culture!

I made it to Paris late Saturday night (the night before Easter) and because I was so tired from traveling all day, I pretty much went straight to bed after arriving. On Sunday morning, we all woke up and Molly, Garrett and Maeve were surprised to find out the Easter Bunny had come all the way to Paris to pay them a visit—he was even able to find lollipops with “Burgos” written on them (gasp)! We then got ready to go to Sunday mass at the Notre Dame.

How can I even describe the Notre Dame? It is absolutely breathtaking. It’s beautiful and the architecture is so intricate; I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been to carve all of the statues, gargoyles and other details. It was packed with people, but we were able to find good seats. Although the service was in French, the programs that they handed out were in French, English, Spanish and German, so it was easy to follow along. Afterwards, we walked over to a stand near our apartment for crepes, which are absolutely delicious. Doug came up with a great idea of getting a crepe maker for everyone to enjoy at the beach this summer, which I think is a great idea!

After enjoying some crepes, we changed into more comfortable clothes and made our way over to Musee Rodin and Musee D’Orsay, both of which are art museums but very different from each other. Musee Rodin is a beautiful indoor/outdoor museum with the works of artist Auguste Rodin. There were beautiful gardens all throughout the area, with a large mansion in the center housing much of his artwork. We spent a couple hours walking around and taking in the beauty of the place. Musee D’Orsay is a more traditional museum; however, it used to be a train station, which makes it pretty unique. Afterwards, we stopped at a café for beers and sorbet for the kids.

Then, we visited the Eiffel Tower which was GINORMOUS. I don’t know exactly what I was expecting from it, but I definitely wasn’t expecting it to be so big. There was a large lawn in front of it in which many people were laying out, drinking bottles of wine and yes, eating cheese. Very French. By then, it was dinnertime so we got a delicious dinner at a restaurant nearby.

On Monday, we woke up early so that we could get plenty of time to visit the Louvre. On the way, we stopped by the Notre Dame to feed the birds, which was very cool. There is a man that stands outside with a backpack filled with sweet bread to feed them, and the birds are very trusting of him. Because of this, the finches and pigeons will fly over and sit on your hand or arm while you feed them. It was really neat and the kids loved it!

After feeding the birds, we walked to the Louvre, which is huge. Like the Eiffel Tower, I wasn’t expecting it to be so big! We spent several hours walking through the different rooms and taking in the artwork, but despite the amount of time we were in there, we didn’t even see an eighth of what the Louvre has to offer. I’m sure it would take days to observe and take in all of the pieces! Of course, we visited the Mona Lisa, which I’ll admit was a bit of a disappointment. As opposed to everything else in the museum, it was So. Tiny. There were at least 100 people crowded in front, cameras in the air and taking pictures, and it was almost funny to see everyone going crazy over one little piece of artwork. I’ll be honest, there were other pieces that were much more impressive.

By the time we left we were very hungry, so we grabbed some food and wine for a picnic in Jardin des Tuileries. It was a beautiful day for a picnic because it was so warm and sunny. While we ate and enjoyed wine, Molly, Garrett and Maeve rented little sailboats to play with in the fountain. It was so funny to watch them run around the fountain with sticks, poking the sailboats to make them sail around.

After enjoying the nice weather in the park, we went to a tiny museum called Musee de L’Orangerie, which houses many of Claude Monet’s water lily paintings. I really enjoyed this because I have always loved Monet’s work. When I was younger, my parents had gotten me a book about a girl that went to visit Monet’s home, which is where his paintings were inspired. Because I already had some background knowledge on the artist and his work, I was able to enjoy the museum more.

From Musee de L’Orangerie we walked to Arc de Triomphe, which is a huge, beautiful arch in the middle of the city to commemorate the military. It is also the finish line for the Tour de France. Molly, Trish and I walked up to the top and the view of the city was amazing. There was a street guide on the top of the arch that showed us what each of the buildings in the distance was. It was very neat to see Paris from there.

We started out Tuesday with feeding the birds again and then made our way over to a district very far from our apartment. It was a very eccentric area and it was neat to walk around there. What was cool was that because the streets were curvy, the buildings curved with the road. Also, all of the streets and sidewalks were cobblestone, which I loved.

Visiting the district took up most of our day and by the time we got back to our area of the city we were so hungry that we went to a pizzeria by the apartment and it turned out to be great.

Wednesday was sadly, our last day in Paris; however, the Millers left very early while my flight didn’t leave until 7:00 PM. I spent the day touring on my own, which I actually enjoyed! I woke up early so that I could get in line to climb the Notre Dame. Despite getting there an hour before it opened, I was at the very end of a long, long line. It was amazing how many people were already there! It was completely worth the wait, however, because the top of the Notre Dame is so amazing. The gargoyles are very cool, and they reminded me of my father because when we were younger, he always had us pretend to be gargoyles to stand still. Also, the view of Paris was beautiful as well.

Afterwards, I walked around the city just enjoying the time to myself, and walking along the river and past little roadside stands that had antique books and souvenirs. It was a very relaxing way to end a trip in which I toured just as hard as my own family does. I have gotten used to the Erasmus way of touring, which is a lot easier than what we did. I’ll admit, the Millers tired me out on this trip and I had a great time!